Okay, so the other day I realised I didn’t actually know all the words to the English national anthem. You know, the one they play at football games and stuff. Heard it a million times, could hum the tune, but the actual lyrics? Bit fuzzy beyond the first line.
Getting Started
So, I figured I’d sort that out. It was pretty straightforward, really. Just sat down at my computer, opened up my web browser – the usual routine. Didn’t need anything fancy.
I went to my favourite search engine. Typed in something simple like “lyrics english national anthem”. Could have maybe put “God Save the King lyrics” I suppose, but the first one did the trick just fine.
Finding the Words
Hit enter and bam, loads of results popped up, as you’d expect. Didn’t really overthink it, just clicked on one of the first links that looked like it would just give me the plain text. Didn’t want a video or anything complicated.
And there they were. The first verse, the one everyone sort of knows:
God save our gracious King!
Long live our noble King!
God save the King!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the King!
Yeah, that looked familiar. But then I noticed there was more stuff below it. Turns out there are other verses! Honestly, I had no idea. Never hear those being sung, do you?
Read through a couple of them. The language is a bit old-fashioned, makes sense I guess, it’s an old song. Some bits about scattering enemies and whatnot. Interesting, but you can see why they probably just stick to the first verse most of the time.
All Done
So yeah, that was my little mission. Took all of about five minutes. Just a quick search, a click, and a read-through. Nothing to it, really, but nice to finally know what the words actually are, even the bits they don’t usually sing. Feel a bit more clued up now when I hear it.
